[Dixielandjazz] Tabarka Jazz Festival - Tunisia

Sat, 15 Jun 2002 20:40:18 EDT

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In a message dated 6/15/02 12:11:25 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
barbonestreet@earthlink.net writes:

> > Ivor Jones, Good Time Jazz band wrote:
> >
> > We are still waiting to be invited to play in a jazzfest which will 
> feature
> > other trad bands. 

For Ivor and all the other bandleaders out there on the list:

The above statement is exactly why more OKOM bands are not getting booked at 
these big International Festivals.   Most Groupsd are sitting around waiting 
to be invited.

You have to get up and promote yourselves, not once every ten years but every 
month, These Festivals have never heard of most of you and never will unless 
you go to them.

I got Saint Gabriel's Celestiual Brass BVand into that circuit of 
International Festivals by sending out about 250 CDS and Full Color 
Promotional packages that made us look like the very exciting and colorful 
act that we are,  we have clever uniforms that most bands hate to wear, but 
they put us ont he Map Internationally and they still request that we wear 
them.   

We actually have people coming up to us and beg to buy them off our backs, so 
never underestimate the power of RED WHITE & BLUE it widely loved around the 
world in spite of the current political climate.

Fellas, there are over 1000 Festivals out there in Europe, and another 1000 
in the USA just in my data base and there are many more events than that.  I 
have just not had the time to get them all in the computer and organized.

Saint Gabriel's has a nice little solid Summer tour for July and we are still 
getting offers for August and may well extend the tour.

It all started with one offer for two Festivals, and then I hit  the email to 
about 500 other ones in Europe and told them we were coming over and were 
accepting offers, they came quickly and I had five Festivals bidding for the 
same week.

Steve Barbone and I have been preaching to all of you for the past two years 
that I have been ont he list to get out and promote your band, and you will 
create some excitment and get invited to play at larger and more influential 
Festivals.

There is room for many good groups out there, and yes we play with many of 
the Biggest nbames int he Business, and almost alwyas come away being the 
favorite act at the festival.   

Some folks would complain that we are too commercial and not esoteric enough 
in our repertoire, some of you would no doubt dislike our show totally, but 
that is OK too, we go where the action is and where the money is.

We are not trying to be Buddy Bolden or even Louis Armstrong, we just go out 
and entertain the people with music they have heard before and like and can 
relate to, unlike many of the "All original Jazz musicians on the circuit 
playing only their original music"  These guys Hate with a passion to have to 
follow our show, we are often used to warm up the crowd, and that we do 
sometimes to histeria and then let some low keyed smooth jazz cats try to 
follow that.

By the way we can also play all the smooth Jazz they want if they ask us to, 
as well as Afro Cuban Jazz, Latin Salza, Calypso, Carribbean R&B Soul and 
even Most of the major Rock Hits of the 50s 60s an70s.

We include songs in our shows by James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett, 
Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rebirth 
Brass Band and about anything in between from Billie Holiday to Preservation 
Hall Traditional stuff.    Therefore we are not afraid to go out in front of 
anybodys Big name act, we know we can hold our own if not steal the show from 
the lazy ones.

We just have a lot of fun and keep getting invited back now on the other hand 
we Never get invited to Play on any OKOM Festivals, probably because we don't 
fit the mold and are so far outside of the BOX for the OKOM orgnizers tastes 
and budgets.

But that does not bother us bvecause it leaves more work for you guys who do 
fit their idea of stricktly Traditional OKOM.

Now once again guys,  get out there and promote yourselves, I would, as Ivor 
said above, love to meet up with some of you guys out there and play some 
gigs together, not to mention be able to sit back at one of these Festivals 
and hear more OKOM music.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
St. Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band

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<HTML>
 In a message dated 6/15/02 12:11:25 PM Pacific Daylight Time, barbonestreet@earthlink.net writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">&gt; Ivor Jones, Good Time Jazz band wrote:
 &gt;
 &gt; We are still waiting to be invited to play in a jazzfest which will feature
 &gt; other trad bands. </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 For Ivor and all the other bandleaders out there on the list:
 
 The above statement is exactly why more OKOM bands are not getting booked at these big International Festivals. &nbsp;&nbsp;Most Groupsd are sitting around waiting to be invited.
 
 You have to get up and promote yourselves, not once every ten years but every month, These Festivals have never heard of most of you and never will unless you go to them.
 
 I got Saint Gabriel's Celestiual Brass BVand into that circuit of International Festivals by sending out about 250 CDS and Full Color Promotional packages that made us look like the very exciting and colorful act that we are, &nbsp;we have clever uniforms that most bands hate to wear, but they put us ont he Map Internationally and they still request that we wear them. &nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 We actually have people coming up to us and beg to buy them off our backs, so never underestimate the power of RED WHITE &amp; BLUE it widely loved around the world in spite of the current political climate.
 
 Fellas, there are over 1000 Festivals out there in Europe, and another 1000 in the USA just in my data base and there are many more events than that. &nbsp;I have just not had the time to get them all in the computer and organized.
 
 Saint Gabriel's has a nice little solid Summer tour for July and we are still getting offers for August and may well extend the tour.
 
 It all started with one offer for two Festivals, and then I hit &nbsp;the email to about 500 other ones in Europe and told them we were coming over and were accepting offers, they came quickly and I had five Festivals bidding for the same week.
 
 Steve Barbone and I have been preaching to all of you for the past two years that I have been ont he list to get out and promote your band, and you will create some excitment and get invited to play at larger and more influential Festivals.
 
 There is room for many good groups out there, and yes we play with many of the Biggest nbames int he Business, and almost alwyas come away being the favorite act at the festival. &nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 Some folks would complain that we are too commercial and not esoteric enough in our repertoire, some of you would no doubt dislike our show totally, but that is OK too, we go where the action is and where the money is.
 
 We are not trying to be Buddy Bolden or even Louis Armstrong, we just go out and entertain the people with music they have heard before and like and can relate to, unlike many of the "All original Jazz musicians on the circuit playing only their original music" &nbsp;These guys Hate with a passion to have to follow our show, we are often used to warm up the crowd, and that we do sometimes to histeria and then let some low keyed smooth jazz cats try to follow that.
 
 By the way we can also play all the smooth Jazz they want if they ask us to, as well as Afro Cuban Jazz, Latin Salza, Calypso, Carribbean R&amp;B Soul and even Most of the major Rock Hits of the 50s 60s an70s.
 
 We include songs in our shows by James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band and about anything in between from Billie Holiday to Preservation Hall Traditional stuff. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Therefore we are not afraid to go out in front of anybodys Big name act, we know we can hold our own if not steal the show from the lazy ones.
 
 We just have a lot of fun and keep getting invited back now on the other hand we Never get invited to Play on any OKOM Festivals, probably because we don't fit the mold and are so far outside of the BOX for the OKOM orgnizers tastes and budgets.
 
 But that does not bother us bvecause it leaves more work for you guys who do fit their idea of stricktly Traditional OKOM.
 
 Now once again guys, &nbsp;get out there and promote yourselves, I would, as Ivor said above, love to meet up with some of you guys out there and play some gigs together, not to mention be able to sit back at one of these Festivals and hear more OKOM music.
 
 Cheers,
 
 Tom Wiggins
 St. Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band
 
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